Morrowind was the first Elder Scrolls game to be released on a console (specifically, the Xbox) — in fact, it was the first major Western RPG to get a Multi-Platform release in a long while. As such, it also marked a major shift in game play and design philosophy. Gone were Arena and Daggerfall's nigh-infinite, procedurally generated worlds, replaced with carefully hand-crafted environments that, while smaller than their predecessors, were designed to invoke awe and still be far larger than most video games. The combat system is radically different from the rest of the series: while it is still real-time, character stats play a far larger role than player skill compared to the rest of the series. Like the other games, however, Morrowind puts a huge emphasis on the numerous side quests, to the degree where they are a major aspect of the game, and are neatly tied into the main story.

The story is set 10 years after the events of Daggerfall, on the far eastern frontier of the Tamrielic Empire. The player character is a convict and an orphan in the Imperial City dungeons. For unknown reasons, Emperor Uriel Septim VII personally orders that you be released early on the condition that you be shipped to the backwater province of Morrowind (more specifically, the even more backwater district of Vvardenfell, until very recently closed off to all foreigners on religious grounds) and meet with an agent of his named Caius Cosades. However, upon being released, you are perfectly free to say "screw that" and explore Vvardenfell at your own pace. If you choose to accept the mission given to you, however, you are launched into a labyrinthine plot involving an Ancient Conspiracy, prophecies, lost prophecies, false prophecies, reincarnation, gods, backroom politics, gang wars, The Corruption, and lots and lots of walking. Seriously, you spend a good half of the game just walking around. Not that it isn't a pleasant and interesting walk.

Two expansion packs were later released for PC:

Tribunal: Following an assassination attempt against the Player Character, you are directed to Morrowind's capital city of Mournhold to investigate. From there, you become embroiled in the power struggle between the Tribunal deity Almalexia and the King of Morrowind, Hlaalu Helseth. It's noticeably more challenging than the original game, and intended for mid-to-high level characters. Unlike the rest of the game, you are restricted to only one part of the stated-to-be massive city and the sewers/ruins beneath it.

Bloodmoon: The expansion adds the island of Solstheim, a grim frozen tundra with a very different atmosphere than the main game. Upon arriving, you find effectively two main quests to complete. The first begins when you sign on to help an Imperial Legion captain with some odd jobs around his fort. It quickly escalates into a simple-but-dramatic plot about rescuing him from the Most Dangerous Game — by taking part in it yourself. The second involves helping the new Imperial mining colony of Raven Rock grow from absolutely nothing into a flourishing frontier settlement, with plenty of moral dilemmas along the way.

Despite its venerable age, Morrowind remains a classic and boasts a large player base to this day. It marked the point where Tamriel ceased to be a standard Medieval European Fantasy setting and became a truly unique Constructed World with highly memorable cultures, history, creatures, landscapes, mythopoeia, and characters. As its gushing fans will tell you, Morrowind does imitate the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, but in a much different way than most fantasy worlds do—by putting the same amount of thought and detail into its universe, rather than just borrowing ideas from The Lord of the Rings. And even less-enthused observers have to admit that Morrowind has probably had the greatest overall influence on the direction of Western RPG output since Ultima IV - near-as-dammit every WRPG since has been influenced by Morrowind.

Morrowind also features a large modding community which continues to churn out Game Mods to this day. One of the most prominent is Tamriel Rebuilt, which seeks to add a lore-accurate representation of the rest of mainland Morrowind to the game's world. (Tropes specific to Tamriel Rebuilt should go there.)

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